HALSELL ONLY AMERICAN

Stephy Halsell might never get to attend a high school dance, but her match-ending pirouette after winning the Girls' 16s at the Rolex Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships should suffice.

The fifth-seeded Halsell, from Cypress, Texas, defeated second-seeded Tatjana Jecmenica of the former Yugoslavia 6-2, 6-3 to save the Americans from a complete shutout in Orange Bowl titles this year.

Halsell, who recently turned 13, has been competing and winning in older age divisions since she was 8. Next year, she'll be a member of the USTA National Team and will play in the 18s.

"I've never played with kids at my age level," said Halsell, who won the Easter Bowl 16s and the National 16s Indoors in 1992. "It's pressure because everybody expects me to keep going higher as I get older."

Halsell said tennis has forced her to grow up at a rapid pace. "I miss going out with friends a lot," Halsell said. "I've never gone to a school dance. I guess you have to really love the sport to miss out on your teen-age years." A year ago, Jecmenica, 15, who attended the same school and played in the same tennis club as Monica Seles in Novi Sad, Serbia, eliminated Halsell in the quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl 14s.

In the Boys' 16s, unseeded Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina outlasted third-seeded Jean Francois Bachelot of France 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Zabaleta led 5-2 in the second set before nerves set in.

"I started to rush it," said Zabaleta, 15. "Winning here is important for my career."

In the Boys' 18s, "Vive Espana" was the rallying cry heard from the Flamingo Park bleacher seats as third-seeded Alberto Costa and fourth-seeded Roberto Carretero of Spain won their respective semifinal matches to set up a rematch of their Junior French Open final, which Carretero won 6-0, 7-6 (7-4)).

"After the match I told him [Costa) I was sorry to beat him," said Carretero, after bouncing eighth-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-4, 6-2. "I was sad for him, but happy for me."

In the other semifinal, Costa dispatched unseeded Argentine Federico Browne 6-1, 6-4, who upset top-seeded Marcelo Rios in the quarterfinals on Friday.

In the Girls' 18s, unseeded Angeles Montolio of Spain downed Miriam D'Agostini 6-2, 6-3 to set up the possibility of an unprecedented Spanish sweep of the 18s' division. In the final, Montolio, 18, will play fourth-seeded Sonya Jeyaseelan of Canada, who defeated Tatiana Panova 6-4, 6-4.

At 4-4 in the second set, a critical overrule went against Plantation's Panova. Jeyaseelan, who trains at Nick Bollettieri's Bradenton academy year-round, began painting the lines with her two-fisted groundstrokes and let out a piercing scream on match point.

"Tatania should've won the Orange Bowl," said Vladimir Kamelzon, one of Panova's coaches. "She made lots of technical mistakes."